SOAP-FAER Liaison: A Win-Win Partnership for Anesthesiology

Joy L. Hawkins, M.D., President
Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology


The Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) is a relatively small society with a stable membership of about 1,000. At our annual meeting, we have three “What’s New” lectures reflecting our mission: one on obstetric anesthesiology, one on perinatology (high-risk obstetrics) and one reviewing neonatology. In addition to the operating fund, our budget includes two endowments to support research and education: the Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology Endowment Fund (OAPEF) and the Gertie Marx Fund. Thus, SOAP has assets of about $500,000 (depending on how the stock market performs any given week!) to support our missions of education and research.

About five years ago, SOAP was asked to partner with the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) in supporting research grants pertaining to obstetric anesthesiology and perinatology. What does FAER add to SOAP’s mission to support these subspecialty areas?

1) Status: Researchers doing high-quality work in these areas know about FAER grants and will almost certainly apply to FAER for funding, while they might not think of applying to SOAP for one of our OAPEF grants.
2) Dollars: Researchers need a certain amount of funding to get time away from their clinical duties, and despite SOAP’s financial stability, we could not provide that size of grant without a strong, well-funded partner such as FAER.
3) Stability: Like any small society, we live financially year to year by how well our annual meeting performs. A large, well-funded foundation like FAER provides economic stability to continue funding a grant, while SOAP might have to “sit out” a year if finances became tight.
4) Mentoring young investigators: SOAP tries to advance young researchers and investigators through contacts within the society, but FAER provides a deeper pool of collaborators for networking and enriching ideas.

Above all, FAER provides a wonderful system of disproportionate funding! From 1998-02, SOAP gave $65,000 to FAER in $10,000-$20,000 increments. In return, FAER has distributed $205,000 in jointly sponsored grants. Of note:

• 1999: Ellen M. Lockhart, M.D., Duke University, received a New Investigator Award for her project “Progesterone as an Endogenous Neuroprotectant”;

• 2000: Barbara L. Leighton, M.D., Cornell University, received a Research Starter Grant for her project “Mechanisms of Epidural-Associated Labor Slowing”;

• 2002: Chuanyao Tong, M.D., Wake Forest University, received a Research Training Grant for his project “Visceral Pain of Uterine Cervical Distention: Role of COX.”

At the ASA 2002 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, the Second Annual FAER Honorary Research Lecture was given by James C. Eisenach, M.D., an obstetric anesthesiologist. His lecture “From Childbirth to Cancer Pain and Back Again: Translational Pain Research” was an excellent example of bringing together research and clinical practice. In this case, it emphasized the neurologic and pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying pain in childbirth and other areas. Again, SOAP benefited from the publicity and attention this FAER-sponsored lecture brought to the subspecialty of obstetric anesthesia.

In short, FAER is an incredible resource for anesthesiologists and the subspecialties of anesthesiology.

Joy L. Hawkins, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesiology, Associate Chair for Academic Affairs and Director of Obstetric Anesthesia, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado.

return to top